Serenade Summary

In lines 1-5, color is significant. The color of the poppies is the dark purple color of the night. Night pities us, brings us solace. Night is when we can escape our sorrows in dreams. The "lean ploughman" is the worker who never ceases working, turning his back on the escape that night brings, dreaming only of the work he does during the day; this is a sadness, a thing to pity. From the footsteps of night the "toads," the hatchlings of our subconscious minds, sprout, trembling.

In lines 5-15, the "young man" is someone just starting to fall asleep or just waking up, leaving night behind, between dream world and reality. The moisture, the thirst, the trembling drop, these are representative of the cathartic rebirth that you go through in dreaming, having to wade through your subconscious mind and all the thoughts...